The Adventures of Sir Givret the Short Read Online Free Page B

"Oh, if that isn't the silliest thing! All I said was that you would rather be with me than go on adventures, like you said to me that night when you gave me those pearl earrings! It was
so
romantic! But I only told one person ... no, wait, two—three! Plus the fishwife."
    Erec turned red. "You told the whole village I was giving up being a knight for you? No wonder they're laughing at me!"
    "Laughing at you! Oh, surely not!" Enide gasped.
    "Givret?" said Erec.
    Givret wished he hadn't brought the matter up, but he replied honestly: "Well, they are a bit. Maybe if Enide went back to the village and told people there that they have it wrong—"
    "It's too late for that now," Erec declared angrily. "I have to
prove
them wrong! Tomorrow morning I'm going questing!"
    [[graphic]]
    Enide looked stricken. "You're leaving me?" she whispered.
    "I say, Erec," Givret began, "maybe you should think about this a day or two before—"
    Enide burst into tears, drowning out the rest of his words. She cried and clutched her hair and said she was very sorry and would do anything to make it better, but she couldn't bear it if Erec went off and left her and so on. "I'll be lost without you!" she wailed.
    "You should have thought of that before you went gossiping about me!" Erec snapped. Enide looked stunned.
    "Well ... can I go with you?" she asked softly.
    Then Erec had an idea. Maybe it wasn't a great idea, but Erec hadn't had as much practice with ideas as Givret. Yes, Enide," he said. You can ride with me, but on one condition: as long as we travel,
you cannot speak a single word!
"

Chapter 7
The Silence of Lady Enide
    When Givret woke the next morning, Erec's servants told him that their master had gone. He had left the castle hours before dawn, accompanied by a silent Lady Enide. Givret set out after them at once, following the servants directions toward the northeast. Before long, he came upon three men in rough clothes huddled around a fire. Givret laid one hand on his sword—there were bandits in those forests—but these men were too busy with their own problems to be threatening. One man winced every time he moved his arm, another held his head in his hands, and the third rubbed a swollen knee. All three were very bruised and battered. Sore Arm saw Givret grasp his sword and said, "Don't waste yer time, sir. We won't hurt ye none."
    "I thought you might be bandits," Givret explained.
    The man rubbed his arm again, then said, "This morning ye'd have been right," he said. "But we're givin' it up. Unhealthy. That's what it is."
    Head-in-Hands groaned and looked up. "'E took me club away and bonked me 'ead with it!" he said.
    "Have you had some trouble?" Givret asked. "Trouble, he calls it!" snorted Sore Arm. "Ay, ye could say that."
    [[graphic]]
    "Me own club! And bonked me in the ead!"
    Givret tried to look sympathetic. "I don't suppose you've met a wandering knight accompanied by a lady have you?"
    Sore Arm said, "Ay, that sounds like the fellow. Who
was
that?"
    "That," Givret said carefully, "was the great Sir Erec of East Wales, gone out questing. You might tell that to people you meet."
    "Why?" asked Sore Arm.
    "Well, it's just that there's a rumor going about that Sir Erec has given up fighting."
    "I wish that was so!" muttered Sore Arm.
    "And the silent lady with him was his wife, Lady Enide," Givret added.
    "Silent!" grunted Sore Arm. "I wish that was so, too."
    "She wasn't silent?"
    "Not when it mattered," Sore Arm said. "See, the way we work—used to work, I mean—is two of us blocks the road while Clem there sneaks up behind a chap and lays him out with a club. It always works, but this time the lady sees Clem creeping up and shouts, 'Look out!'"
    "What happened then?" Givret asked.
    "'E TOOK ME CLUB AWAY AND BONKED ME OWN 'EAD WITH IT!" shouted Clem.
    "Oh, right," Givret said. "You mentioned that, didn't you? Sorry."
    "After that, he bonks the rest of us a bit," Sore Arm added. Then he frowned,